NOTES AND QUERIES. 277 



but whether previously the nests had been robbed it would perhaps 

 be difficult to prove. — E. P. Butterfield. 



First Nesting of Grasshopper-Warbler and Chiffchaff near Bingley. 

 — To a lover of birds who has spent more than half a century in his 

 leisure hours on moor and fell and in the woods which surround his 

 native village, the occurrence of a fresh bird, especially for breeding 

 purposes, is always an interesting event. Such an one occurred in 

 this district last year (1915). Mr. S. Longbottom, of Bingley, under 

 date of May 24th, 1915, wrote me that a Grasshopper-Warbler was 

 building a nest in the Prince of Wales Park, Bingley, and another 

 friend wrote about the same time informing me of the arrival of one 

 near Hebden Bridge, but the nest of the latter was never found. 

 I first heard this bird in Upper Wharfedale on the moor about 

 forty years ago ; previous to this it had been heard by two Bradford 

 naturalists, Messrs. Carter and Firth, on the edge of the moor above 

 Bingley, and a friend of mine, who now resides in California, formerly 

 informed me of its occurrence near Thornton, Bradford, and it has 

 probably occurred in two, if not three, other instances in this imme- 

 diate neighbourhood ; and in other parts of Airedale it is reported 

 from Skipton, Leeds, and Adel (Nelson). 



On May 30th Mr. Sam Longbottom, of Bingley, took me to see 

 the Grasshopper- Warbler's nest mentioned above built in Prince of 

 Wales Park. The nest contained five eggs and was built amongst tall 

 grass, not quite so cunningly concealed as I had expected, in a rough 

 part near the highway leading from Bingley to Eldwick, this part of 

 the park being little used by the public. When we approached the 

 nest the old bird flew off into an elderberry tree near by and crept 

 stealthily away — more like a mouse than a bird — and never took long 

 flights at a time, and these movements were repeated when I visited 

 the nest on June 3rd, on which date the nest had six eggs. On 

 June 12th the nest contained four young and two eggs, and on 

 June 13th all the eggs were hatched, which took a little longer time 

 in incubation than I thought would be the case. The young left the 

 nest on June 23rd ; one young bird actually left the nest on June 22nd. 



After May 24th, when the bird or birds were building, Mr. 

 Longbottom informed me that the bird ceased singing, and was not 

 heard again until June 25th, when the park-keeper heard it again, 

 but it ceased again after June 28th. On July 18th Mr. Longbottom 

 found a second nest with six eggs within about forty yards from the 

 first nest ; four eggs were hatched on July 21st, and on July 23rd all 

 the eggs were hatched out. On July 31st all the young left the nest, 



